Barnet pratar med sig själv i sitt rum.

The child talks to themself in their room.

Breakdown of Barnet pratar med sig själv i sitt rum.

• i: in
• prata: to talk
• med: with
• barnet: the child
• rummet: the room
• sig själv: herself
• sitt: their

Questions & Answers about Barnet pratar med sig själv i sitt rum.

Why is it barnet and not just barn?

Barn means a child or children in general.
Barnet is the definite singular form and means the child.

• ett barn = a child
• barnet = the child
• barn = children (plural, indefinite)
• barnen = the children

So Barnet pratar … = The child is talking …

Is barn an en-word or an ett-word, and why does that matter here?

Barn is an ett-word (neuter noun):

• ett barn – a child
• barnet – the child

This matters because the possessive sitt must agree with the noun it refers to.
Rum is also an ett-word:

• ett rum – a room

So you must say sitt rum (neuter) and not sin rum.
Sin / sitt / sina agree with the possessed noun, not with the owner:

• sin bok (en-word, singular) – his/her own book
• sitt rum (ett-word, singular) – his/her own room
• sina böcker (plural) – his/her own books

Why is it sitt rum and not hans rum or hennes rum?

Sitt is a reflexive possessive and refers back to the subject of the sentence (barnet).

• Barnet pratar med sig själv i sitt rum.
  = The child talks to himself/herself in his/her own room.

If you said:

• Barnet pratar med sig själv i hans rum.
  it would mean: The child … in *his room (some other male person’s room).*

So:

• sin / sitt / sina = his/her/their own (refers back to the subject)
• hans / hennes / deras = his / her / their (someone else’s, not the subject’s by default)

Why do we use sitt and not sin or sina?

Because sin / sitt / sina must match the grammatical form of the noun they modify:

• sin – with en-words, singular:
  
  • sin bil (his/her own car)
• sitt – with ett-words, singular:
  
  • sitt rum (his/her own room)
• sina – with plural nouns:
  
  • sina rum (his/her own rooms)

Since rum is an ett-word, singular, the correct form is sitt.

What does pratar mean exactly, and how is it different from talar or säger?

All three relate to speaking, but they’re used differently:

• pratar – to talk, to chat (neutral/colloquial, very common)

  • Barnet pratar med sig själv. – The child is talking to itself.

• talar – to speak (slightly more formal / used in set phrases)

  • Hon talar svenska. – She speaks Swedish.

• säger – to say (focus on the words someone says)

  • Barnet säger något. – The child says something.

In this sentence, pratar is natural because we mean is talking (ongoing speech), not says (a specific utterance).

Why is it pratar med sig själv and not just pratar sig själv?

In Swedish, “talk to someone” is typically prata med någon (or tala med någon).
When you talk to yourself, you keep the same structure:

• prata med sig själv – to talk with/ to oneself

You can’t say pratar sig själv; Swedish needs the preposition med in this construction:

• Jag pratar med dig. – I talk to you.
• Hon pratar med sin bror. – She talks to her brother.
• Barnet pratar med sig själv. – The child talks to itself.

What’s the difference between sig and sig själv?

Both are reflexive and refer back to the subject (he/she/they). The nuance:

• sig – basic reflexive pronoun:

  • Han tvättar sig. – He washes (himself).

• sig själv – stronger emphasis, literally “oneself”:

  • Han pratar med sig själv. – He talks to himself.

In some contexts you must include själv for the idiomatic meaning in English, e.g.:

• prata med sig själv – talk to oneself
• vara nöjd med sig själv – be pleased with oneself

So sig alone is often fine, but sig själv is very common when you want to stress himself/herself/themselves.

Is sig used for both “himself” and “herself” (and “itself” / “themselves”)?

Yes. Sig is gender-neutral and number-neutral in Swedish for 3rd person:

• Han skadar sig. – He hurts himself.
• Hon skadar sig. – She hurts herself.
• Barnet skadar sig. – The child hurts itself.
• De skadar sig. – They hurt themselves.

Context tells you whether it’s him/her/it/them.
Adding själv doesn’t change that neutrality:

• Han skadar sig själv. – He hurts himself.
• De skadar sig själva. – They hurt themselves.
  (Note: själv → själva in plural.)

Why is it i sitt rum and not på sitt rum? Can you use both?

Both i sitt rum and på sitt rum can be used, often with very similar meaning:

• i sitt rum – literally “in his/her room”, focusing on being inside the room.
• på sitt rum – also commonly used for “in his/her room”, focusing on the room as a location/place.

In many everyday contexts they are interchangeable:

• Barnet är i sitt rum.
• Barnet är på sitt rum.

Both can mean: The child is in its room.

There can be subtle nuance or fixed expressions (e.g. på rummet in a hotel), but in this sentence either would sound natural.

Can I say Barnet pratar i sitt rum med sig själv instead? Is the word order flexible?

Yes, Swedish word order is somewhat flexible at the end of the clause, but it can change the emphasis.

• Barnet pratar med sig själv i sitt rum.
  Neutral: The child is talking to itself in its room.

• Barnet pratar i sitt rum med sig själv.
  Still grammatical, but sounds slightly less natural. It might sound like you’re contrasting “in its room” vs somewhere else.

Swedish tends to place place and manner adverbials after the verb, and “med sig själv” feels more closely linked to pratar, so the original sentence is the most natural.

How would the sentence change if there were several children?

For multiple children, you change barnet to barnen, and adjust the reflexive if needed:

• Barnen pratar med sig själva i sitt rum.

Breakdown:

• barnen – the children
• sig själva – themselves (plural form of själv)
• sitt rum – their own room (one shared room; rum is still ett-word singular)

If you want them to have several rooms:

• Barnen pratar med sig själva i sina rum.
  (sina because rum is now plural.)

Could I say Barnet pratar med sig själv i rummet? What would that mean?

Yes:

• Barnet pratar med sig själv i sitt rum.
  – The child is talking to itself in its (own) room.

• Barnet pratar med sig själv i rummet.
  – The child is talking to itself in the room.

I rummet refers to some specific room known from context, but not explicitly as “its own room”.
I sitt rum tells you clearly that the room belongs to the child.

How do you pronounce sig, sitt, and själv?

Approximate pronunciations in a standard accent:

• sig – often like “sej” or “sij” (IPA roughly [sɛj] or [sɪj])
• sitt – like “sit” in English, but short and clipped [sɪt]
• själv – sj is a special Swedish sound (like a breathy “sh” far back in the mouth), something like [ɧɛlv]

So the phrase med sig själv might sound roughly like “med sej sjelv”, with that Swedish sj sound.